The Waldorf Astoria, Jan 23

Nicole Kidman celebrated the Aussie national holiday three days early in New York by presenting her friend and collaborator, director Baz Luhrmann, with an award on the stage of a ballroom in the Waldorf Astoria Hotel.

The warm and relaxed actress said she had a special fondness of the annual Australia Day Black Tie Gala because it was at that event in 2005 she met her husband.

"A young musician was being honored; I'd never heard of him," she recalled with a smile as hubby Keith Urban beamed in the audience. "Now I've heard of him." (The couple was introduced by Qantas executive Wally Mariani.)

Earlier in the evening, Luhrmann slammed blogger reaction to his film "Australia," and specifically reports that Kidman had not been happy with the finished product. "'Annoying' is an understatement," he said on the red carpet. "As nasty as you can be is the game. He who slags the most is the coolest."

"Australia" co-star Hugh Jackman, who had been slated to appear, was pulled away by shooting commitments at the last minute. But yet again the breakout star of the night was young Brandon Walters, who played Nullah in the romantic epic. Even News Corporation mogul Rupert Murdoch and his wife Wendi, who sat proudly at the front table, were getting less attention than the 12-year-old tuxedo-clad charmer.

Another Aussie celeb flying under the radar was MTV's "The Hills" hunk, Jay Lyon. He was without his girlfriend of (dubious) record, Whitney Port, but came with bandmate Nick Potts (equally good hair, just blond).

However, a little digging shows that Mr. Lyon is not the beach-bum naif that his character on "The City" might suggest. Before Whitney he dated Aussie supermodel Miranda Kerr (who has been on the arm of Orlando Bloom for the last year) and then, tellingly, Tara Reid. It was around the time he started dating these camera-bait cuties that he changed his name to Jay G. Lyon from the less photocap-friendly Brett Tuhtan.

Something tells me we'll be hearing more about this young man during his time in "The City."